Hero unit
Hero units are a gameplay feature in StarCraft and StarCraft II. Hero units are unique units that usually represent plot-important characters or constructs, taking part in battle on the field. Game Unit StarCraft With the exceptions of Sarah Kerrigan and Infested Kerrigan, hero units are visually identical to normal units, differentiated from them by being different colors. Terran and protoss hero units are set to teal (Player 3), while zerg hero units are set to red (Player 1), and these forces are set to rescuable, joining the player when their units approach the hero unit. The one exception is again Infested Kerrigan, who is set to purple (Player 4) in Episode II, the same force as the player's, and continues to use this coloration until the final missions of StarCraft Episode VI. All zerg heroes aside from Kerrigan and Duran in use the same voice data as their normal unit counterparts. Hero units are powered-up forms of base units. They usually come with all upgrades and abilities researched, have more HP, shields and armor, and higher attack power. In most missions, it is required for all of the player's hero units to survive the mission—if a hero unit dies, the player receives a notification of this and the mission fails. In StarCraft: Brood War, enemy structures and units with particular importance are designated yellow as a sort of enemy hero, such as Jim Raynor's command center in the Episode V mission Emperor's Flight, and the subsequent dropship that spawns from the command center at the end of the mission. In the Episode VI mission True Colors, Edmund Duke and Fenix use teal as their hero coloration instead. Only a handful of hero units have unique abilities. Tassadar is a high templar hero unit but possesses a normal attack that high templar do not. Samir Duran as a zerg hero unit has the abilities of a terran ghost, as well as regenerating HP and the consume ability, and uses terran infantry weapons upgrades to determine his weapon power but zerg ground carapace upgrades to determine his armor. Infested Kerrigan is treated as the hero unit of the infested terran in StarEdit, but is an entirely unique unit with a different appearance and different abilities. Strictly speaking, civilians are treated as hero units by StarEdit, and have no normal unit counterpart. In addition to important characters receiving hero units, every unit in the base game has a hero unit counterpart, with the exceptions of the worker units of each race, the broodling, the scourage, the dropship, the shuttle, and the observer. However, aside from the plot-critical hero units, hero units do not possess unique portraits or dialogue, using the same portrait and quotes as normal units. In Brood War, none of the new units of each race receive a hero unit counterpart, though the dark templar, a hero unit in the base game, became a normal unit in Brood War while Zeratul and the hero unit version of the dark templar remained in the game. StarCraft II In StarCraft II, hero units are much more diverse in their appearances and abilities. Hero units are often given a unique coloration and have unique unit models. They often have unique abilities and statistics from their base unit counterpart, and several hero units have no base unit counterpart at all. Many hero units are given the "heroic" unit type, which is used to determine an assortment of effects, such as what abilities may or may not have any effect on them. In each mission, any available hero units have a portrait representing them displayed in the lower-right over the command menu. Clicking on this portrait or pressing a designated hotkey will instantly select the hero unit. The portrait displays bars for the hero unit's HP, shields and energy, if the latter two are applicable. As in StarCraft, hero units in Wings of Liberty are required to survive a mission or else the player instantly loses, with the exception of the missions "Media Blitz" and "In Utter Darkness." In "Media Blitz," if the Odin is destroyed the mission continues normally without the Odin, while in "In Utter Darkness", the player receives notification of a hero's death and the mission continues normally. In Heart of the Swarm, all heroes the player controls respawn at their main hatchery when killed, with the exception of Niadra in the mission "Enemy Within"; Niadra's death results in a loss in this case. List of Hero Units The following is a list of hero units. The criteria for inclusion is that the character/war machine must operate as a unit within the game engine and/or map editor, and may not be producible through standard means. StarCraft Terran Heroes :Main article: List of terran heroes in StarCraft *''Aleksander'' (battlecruiser, StarEdit only) *Jenson Archimedes (science vessel) *Cerberus Firebat (firebat) *Edmund Duke (siege tank) *Samir Duran (ghost) *El Kang the Quixotic (battlecruiser) *Jack Frost (firebat) *Hale (battlecruiser) *''Hyperion'' (battlecruiser) *Jenn the Vivacious (ghost) *Aios Karnage (siege tank) *''Kimera'' (battlecruiser) *''Leviathan'' (battlecruiser, StarEdit only) *Magellan (science vessel) *Martin (siege tank) *Bud Morris (firebat) *''Norad III'' (battlecruiser) *Gui Montag (firebat) *Black Morgan (dropship) *Tom Kazansky (wraith) *Sarah Kerrigan (ghost) *Jim Raynor (marine, vulture) *Santa Claus (dropship) *"Sergeant" (vulture) *Skullder Unit 001 (goliath) *Alan Schezar (goliath) *Cerberus Goliath (goliath) *Alexei Stukov (ghost) *Base Commander (ghost) *"Unholy" Tara (ghost) *Tsuname (goliath) *Charlie Vane (wraith) Removed *Boskk (raider pilot) *Greedo (gunship pilot) *Grom (biker) *Peter (raider pilot) *Sally (cargo ship pilot) Zerg Heroes :Main article: List of zerg heroes in StarCraft *Blade Guardian (ultralisk) *Devouring One (zergling) *Devours Children (zergling) *Eschueta the Wicked (infested terran) *Frayne the Feral (hydralisk) *Gilson the Evil (guardian) *Hunter Killer (hydralisk) *Infested Duran (ghost) *Infested Kerrigan (infested terran) *Meat Eater (zergling) *Meserole the Marauder (zergling) *Morik (infested terran) *Screamer (zergling) *Thakras (defiler) *Torrasque (Ultralisk) *Wise Old Torrasque (ultralisk) *Zergrinch (defiler) Protoss Heroes :Main article: List of protoss heroes in StarCraft *Aedus/Xerxes (archon) *Aldaris (high templar) *Andraxxus (Carrier) *Artanis (scout) *Blackman (high templar) *Dabiri (dark templar) *''Danimoth'' (arbiter) *Dark Archon Hero (dark archon) *Dark Templar Hero (dark templar) *Demioch (dragoon) *Edullon (zealot) *Eredas (dragoon) *Fenix (zealot/dragoon) *''Gantrithor'' (carrier) *Heiberg the Heretic (high templar) *High Templar Hero (high templar) *Kizrath (scout) *Minos the Malevolent (zealot) *Mojo (scout) *Pagan the Pernicious (dark templar) *Raszagal (corsair, StarEdit only) *Syndrea (arbiter) *Taldarin (dragoon) *Tassadar (high templar) *Tassadar/Zeratul (archon) *Zeratul (dark templar) *Zyrkhan (zealot) StarCraft II Terran Heroes :Main article: List of terran heroes in StarCraft II *Archangel (viking) *A.R.E.S. (warbot) *Tychus Findlay (chaingun/commando variants) *Gorgon (battlecruiser) *''Hyperion'' (battlecruiser) *''Loki'' (battlecruiser) *Odin (thor) *Jim Raynor (marine/sniper/commando variants, labeled as a protoss hero in his lab variant) *Egon Stetmann (medic) *Rory Swann (marauder) *Nova Terra (ghost) *Gabriel Tosh (spectre) Zerg Heroes :Main article: List of zerg heroes in StarCraft II *Brakk (tyrannozor) *Brutalisk *Dehaka (unique unit) *Sarah Kerrigan (infested terran, appearance and abilities change throughout campaign) *Kraith (unique unit) *Leviathan *Naktul (broodmother) *Niadra (larva/broodmother) *Omegalisk *Queen (Belly of the Beast) (queen) *Slivan (creeper host) *Alexei Stukov (infested terran) *Yagdra (primal wurm) *Zagara (broodmother) *Zurvan (unique unit) Protoss Heroes :Main article: List of protoss heroes in StarCraft II *Alarak (zealot) *Artanis (zealot) *Karass (high templar) *Karax *Mohandar (void ray) *''Purifier'' (mothership) *Selendis (carrier) *''Shield of Aiur'' (mothership) *Mothership (Maw of the Void) (mothership) *Mothership (Trouble in Paradise) (mothership) *Tassadar (high templar) *Talandar *Urun (phoenix) *''Void Seeker'' (star relic) *Vorazun (Dark templar) *Zeratul (Dark templar) Xel'naga Heroes :Main article: List of Xel'naga heroes in StarCraft II *Emil Narud (allied with Amon; labeled as a zerg hero in the map editor; otherwise unique) *Xel'naga construct Category:Heroes